364 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE O. 



of this lady. When the church was about to be 

 rebuilt, many of the landholders of the neigh- 

 bourhood were desirous of having the edifice 

 upon their ground ; this proceeded from a reli- 

 gious feeling. Lots were drawn to determine 

 upon the site of the new church, and although 

 manifestly inconvenient, from many causes, it 

 has been erected upon the spot where it now 

 stands, because the same lot was drawn three 

 times. A very great objection, and one which 

 in common cases would have been insurmount- 

 able, is, that this is the lowest piece of land in 

 the neighbourhood, and is opposite to the place 

 upon which the sea is making the most rapid 

 advances. Water, too, for mixing the lime and 

 sand, must have been conveyed from a consi- 

 derable distance ; but a spring of it gushed 

 forth at the moment that one of the labourers 

 was making preparations for the commencement 

 of his work, and since the capella-mor\ or prin- 

 cipal chapel, has been built, all kinds of dis- 

 eases are said to be cured. The fame of this 

 most powerful lady has reached far and wide, 

 and from the interior to the distance of 150 

 leagues, persons who were afflicted with disor- 

 ders which had been considered incurable by 

 human means, have come down to make their 

 offerings to this avaricious personage, whose 

 powerful intercession is not to be obtained 



